Ebook364 pages6 hours
Noah's Ark: A Novel
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
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About this ebook
Ali Bobrow is an otherworldly single parent with an overwrought nine-year-old daughter, a malevolent ex and his grabby new wife, and an underused artistic talent. A pushover when it comes to needy neighbors and uninvited children, she allows her house to be the local drop-in center, until she collides with Noah Glazer, who falls for her pale red hair. A solid man of science, Noah walks into her over-populated life bringing good sense, order, and security. But ten years later, Ali is drawn back into the complexities of her past; an old lover, two ex-spouses, a colleague from clown school, and a small smuggled cat all help to rock the boat.
"Why did it take me so long to discover the singular joys of Barbara Trapido's novels? Why, for so many years, had I missed these witty, soulful, heartbreaking, expansive, brilliant tales? I have become a literary evangelist on her behalf." --Elizabeth Gilbert
"Why did it take me so long to discover the singular joys of Barbara Trapido's novels? Why, for so many years, had I missed these witty, soulful, heartbreaking, expansive, brilliant tales? I have become a literary evangelist on her behalf." --Elizabeth Gilbert
Author
Barbara Trapido
Barbara Trapido is the author of seven novels including Brother of the More Famous Jack (winner of a Whitbread special prize for fiction), Temples of Delight (shortlisted for the Sunday Express Book of the Year Award), The Travelling Horn Player, and, most recently, Frankie and Stankie (shortlisted for the 1998 Whitbread Novel Award and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize). She lives in Oxford.
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Reviews for Noah's Ark
Rating: 3.705128284615385 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
39 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The biggest issue I have with Barbara Trapido's novels is that they always finish long before I'm ready to stop reading them. I would happily live forever in her fictional world and Noah's Ark in particular - a 'Misery' scenario would be very tempting should should I ever meet her.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I found this book a thoroughly enjoyable read, very typical of Trapido: full of quirky intellectual characters, witty dialogue, and a central female protagonist who is not absolutely sure who she is, what she wants, or why. Her efforts to answer these questions make for lots of fun and an ultimately satisfying conclusion.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the story of a marriage but it is also a clever study of power.Ali Bobrow, artistic, beautiful and unworldly, is easy prey to controlling men. Her third husband, Noah, is at least a benign dictator. Before him she was mistreated, her daughter was unhappy and she was unable to resist the demands of any manipulative neighbour or acquaintance. Noah, a doctor, the ultimate protector, replaces the chaos with love, calm and security – so long as she follows his rules.Then one day Ali decides to rebel – and this disrupts the delicate balance of her life with Noah, and leads her to look back at her past in South Africa. Trapido’s characters are funny and vivid and clever. You feel like you want to climb into her world (though probably not for too long – who could keep up?). She creates atmosphere with economy and style. The opening scene shows Ali sewing in her kitchen, an icon of domesticity. The apparently ordinary items – the fruit bowl, the pinboard – and her thoughts about them immediately evoke the family and her place within it. There are other types of power here. Ali grew up under apartheid, the descendant of German refugees from World War Two. Her best friend at school was Jewish, and she is attracted to Jewish men. Her unconsummated first love was dark-skinned and was rumoured to have lied about his background to attend the all-white university. There are also the dynamics between parents and children. Noah’s step-daughter, once so timid, is able to be rebellious and demanding precisely because he has made her feel safe – for now. He is also confronted by the stubbornness of his own daughter.How do we respond to a world where every day people are harming others? Trapido asks subtle questions about the limits of power, resistance and compassion.
Book preview
Noah's Ark - Barbara Trapido
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